Mansi Kasliwal

Mansi Kasliwal is a Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), specializing in cosmic transients and multi-messenger astrophysics. She leads the Kasliwal research group, focusing on discovering and characterizing stellar mergers, neutron star mergers, and electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events. Her work leverages robotic telescopes like Palomar Gattini-IR and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) for systematic surveys.

• Education: BS in Engineering Physics (Cornell University), MS & PhD in Astrophysics (Caltech)
• Affiliations: Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Caltech

Research Interests

Her research explores transient astrophysical phenomena, including supernovae, tidal disruption events, and stellar mergers. She pioneers projects like the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH) and the SPIRITS space telescope survey. Her team develops instruments like WIRC+POL and leads pathfinder projects for future surveys like Cryoscope.

Articles & Trends

Recent work focuses on multi-messenger astronomy, including studies of gravitational wave sources, X-ray transients linked to supernovae, and dust formation in stellar explosions observed with JWST. Publications emphasize rapid follow-up observations of transients and their implications for stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis.

Advising & Grants

Mansi has mentored over 20 graduate students and postdocs, many now leading roles in academia and industry. Her team secures grants for robotic surveys and instruments, with notable success in NSF PIRE projects and collaborations with institutions worldwide.

Labs & Projects

Key initiatives include the GROWTH international network, SPIRITS infrared survey, and ZTF optical surveys. She is a principal investigator for the Cryoscope Antarctic telescope project, aiming to revolutionize infrared transient detection.